Johannes Müller: Judaism, Hamburg, 1644, chapter “On the Jews’ residence: Whether Christians can with good conscience permit Jews to live in their midst”, pp. 1385–1395

Source Description

This excerpt is a passage from a reference work published in 1644 by the pastor of the church
St.
Petri in Hamburg, Johannes Müller
(1626–1672), under the
title “Judaismus oder Judenthumb”
[“Judaism”]. Over a thousand pages long, this work, intended for a general
audience, was published by Zacharias Hertel, a well-known bookseller from Hamburg. It
reflects the dominant attitudes towards Judaism in orthodox Lutheranism of
the 17th
century. Hertel’s heirs reissued Müller’s “Judaismus” in
1707, and it became a standard reference work
found in many private libraries in the early modern era. Even
today, this book remains part of the inventory in many German university
libraries. “Judaismus” is thus rightly
considered the most influential of the many works published against Judaism
in the 17th
century. The excerpts included here come from the
introduction (“The Jews’ Residence”) to the Second Part, and they show that
preachers like Müller were quite occupied
with the fundamental question as to whether Jews should be allowed to live
among Christians.